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Nick Pivetta

Bernardino, Pivetta, Martin Blank A’s

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OAKLAND – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Nick Pivetta combined with opener Brennan Bernardino and closer Chris Martin on a one-hit shutout as the Boston Red Sox beat the host Oakland Athletics 7-0 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.

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Connor Wong collected two singles, a double and three RBIs for the Red Sox, who beat the A’s for the fourth time in 11 days.

With star third baseman Rafael Devers (calf) on the bench, Boston put up single runs in the first and second innings before Pivetta (6-5) took the mound.

Making his third start of the season, Bernardino allowed a single to Ryan Noda, the third batter he faced, but no other hits before handing a 2-0 lead to Pivetta after two innings.

Pivetta was even more dominant, holding the A’s hitless over six innings while matching his career high with 13 strikeouts. The right-hander walked two. Martin struck out three of the four batters he faced in the ninth, giving the Red Sox trio 18 strikeouts among 27 outs.

Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Wong produced the 2-0 lead before Boston broke the game open with a four-run sixth. Wong had a two-run double in the middle of the uprising, which also featured a sacrifice fly by Adam Duvall and an RBI groundout by Yu Chang.

A’s starter Paul Blackburn (1-2) was pulled two outs into the inning, charged with six runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out three.

Boston tacked on a run in the ninth when Turner capped a two-RBI game with a run-scoring fielder’s choice.

Turner, Duvall, Alex Verdugo and Jarren Duran joined Wong with doubles for the Red Sox, who won for the 11th time in their past 13 games. The visitors had as many doubles (five) as singles (five) in their 10-hit attack.

Eight of the nine hitters in Boston’s lineup recorded at least one hit.

The shutout defeat was the 11th of the season for the A’s, who have lost eight in a row, matching their second-longest losing streak of the season. They had an 11-game skid in May.

–Field Level Media

Sox, Pivetta Strike Back Against Astros

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – After a 13-4 lambasting at the hands of the Houston Astros on Tuesday night, a game that saw the ‘Stros tie a major league record with five home runs in a single inning (2nd vs Nathan Eovaldi), the Boston Red Sox needed to strike back on Wednesday. The pitching rotation called for Boston right-hander Nick Pivetta (1-4, 5.08 ERA) to take the mound vs Houston’s Luis Garcia (3-1, 2.94 ERA).

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When Pivetta faced Astros lead-off man Jose Altuve in the first, it looked as though Houston was picking up where they left off on Tuesday when Altuve took a 3-2 pitch over the Green Monster in left field. That would not be the case over nine innings, as Pivetta earned a 5-1 victory by allowing only one other hit, a double by LF Michael Brantley, to pitch a complete game, two-hitter.

It was the first complete game for a Red Sox pitcher since Chris Sale went nine innings against the Royals in Kansas City on June 5, 2019 (8-0 win) and the first complete game at Fenway Park since Rick Porcello tossed nine against the New York Yankees on August 3, 2018 (4-1 win).

To earn his complete game and two-hitter, Pivetta threw 112 pitches with 78 for strikes. A whopping 23 of those pitches came in the first inning when Pivetta settled down to retire three-straight after the Altuve lead-off HR. Pivetta allowed only the one earned run while striking out eight and walking none.

The Red Sox offense gave Pivetta support immediately, registering two runs in the bottom of the first on a Rafael Devers triple and J.D. Martinez sacrifice fly, then a Xander Bogaerts home run, his fourth of the season. Boston picked-up another un in the third inning when Devers doubled in Kiki Hernandez who led off the inning by reaching first on a Jeremy Pena error at short.

The Sox scattered singles against Garcia to tally two more runs in the fourth, which closed out the scoring.

Boston’s DH, Martinez, had an 18-game hitting streak and 34-game on base streak snapped, and his luck ran out when a seventh inning ground ball to short had to be reviewed by the umpires, to no avail for the .325 hitter who went 0-for-3 with an RBI via the SAC fly, his 20th run batted in this season. He trails only Devers (21) in the team lead for RBI.

After crunching Eovaldi for 13 runs, the Astros bats went dull on their get-away game that started at 6:12pm and was over by 8:50pm (ET). Altuve struck-out twice after hitting the lead-off homer, his eighth of the season, while both 1B Yuli Gurriel and Pena each went down twice to strikes.

NOTES: Boston will host the Seattle Mariners who lost 11 of their last 15, not including this evenings game at Toronto. The Mariners will be at Fenway Park for a Thursday through Sunday, four-game set. Mariners rookie hot pitching prospect George Kirby (0-0, 0.90 ERA) will face veteran Rich Hill (1-1, 2.89 ERA) on Thursday evening. … Tonight’s complete game by Nick Pivetta was only the second of his career, the other coming June 8, 2019 vs the Cincinnati Reds. … Boston SS Xander Bogaerts has six RBI over his last six games. … Houston’s Michael Brantley has reached base safely in 13-straight games and is hitting .306 over that span. … Jose Altuve scored his 900th career run with his HR and is only the fourth player in Houston Astros history to record 900 runs (Craig Biggio-1,844), (Jeff Bagwell-1,517) and (Lance Berkman-1,008)

Red Sox Come From Behind vs LAA

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox won their second straight game, following a 3-game losing streak, and are now 12-8 at home, 12-5 since being swept by Baltimore to open the season. With their 4-3 victory over the LA Angels, the Red Sox earned their MLB-best 16th come-from-behind win.

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Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the 7th inning, Boston rallied behind a single by RF Hunter Renfroe and 1B Bobby Dalbec‘s subsequent two-run home run. Renfroe had hit a two-run homer of his own in the Red Sox half of the 2nd inning to open the scoring. In Dalbec’s last six games (beginning 5/7), he is batting 7-for-21 (.333) with three home runs and nine RBI.

Shonhei Ohtani hit his American League co-leading 11th homer of the 2021 season for the Angels, who lost their third straight.

Boston reliever Matt Andriese (2-2) was credited with the win despite allowing José Iglesias’ two-run double in the seventh, and closer Matt Barnes struck out the side in the ninth for his ninth save of the year. Boston starter Nick Pivetta went 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven. Pivetta, who earlier in the week was put on COVID-19+ protocol due to his reaction to his second vaccine, held LA scoreless before Ohtani’s two-out homer in the 6th.

 

Pivetta to COVID-19 Injured List

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox placed right-handed pitcher Nick Pivetta on the COVID-19 Related Injured List (side effects from vaccination). To fill Pivetta’s spot on the active roster, the club recalled right-handed pitcher Eduard Bazardo from Triple-A Worcester. Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the announcement.

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Pivetta, 28, last started on May 9 in Baltimore, where he limited the Orioles to two runs over 6.0 innings in the Red Sox’ 4-3 win. The right-hander is 5-0 with a team-leading 3.19 ERA (13 ER/36.2 IP) and .190 opponent batting average over seven starts this season, tossing at least 5.0 innings in six of them. Pivetta is tied for the American League lead in wins and ranks among league leaders hits per nine innings (5th, 5.89) and home runs per nine innings (5th, 0.49).